Bavaria Malaysia official fanpage is managed by Nine Litre Holdings Sdn Bhd. The company is an exclusive importer and distributor for Bavaria Malt Drinks.
Seven generations of brewing industry
The Bavaria brewery in Lieshout (Brabant Province) is one of the oldest breweries in the Netherlands. The year 1719 records the first listing of the ‘De Kerkdijk’ brewery in Lieshout. Owned by the Moorees family it was active from as early as 1680 in small scale brewing of artisanal beer. One of the daughters married a Swinkels and their descendants took over the brewery in 1764.
As an independent family business Bavaria still has a special position in the international beer market. The Swinkels family has run the business for seven generations.
Entrepreneurship runs in the family blood. Where Johannes Swinkels sold ten barrels of beer in 1884, the brothers Jan, Piet and Frans had expanded the business to over 40,000 hectolitres in 1947. In 1981 the sixth generation achieved the 1 million hectolitre milestone and the entrepreneurial spirit of the seventh generation ensures that now Bavaria exports 6 million hectolitres of beer to over 120 countries.
Investing in sustainable business processes
As the Swinkels family sees it, each generation has the brewery on loan from the next generation. Continuity is the key driver. Bavaria’s motivator is to hand over the business to the children and grand children in optimum condition. This requires innovative power and means investing in sustainable business processes, in assets that the next generations can build on. Bavaria is the world’s first brewery to operate under ISO 26.000 standards assuring a completely sustainable overall operation in terms of water consumption, energy, chain management and man & environment. Bavaria is also one of the world’s top 4 low energy breweries. To illustrate: with the energy generated in its production process Bavaria could supply 18.000 households.
Innovation through the years
Where increasingly small scale breweries have been closing their doors, the Swinkels family has remained successful through the years by consistently anticipating changes in the market. As originator of the sole genuinely zero alcohol beer Bavaria has built a strong position in the Netherlands as well as in other parts of the world. In 1978 Bavaria exported the first zero alcohol beer to the Middle East, and today in this region its unique brewing method helps Bavaria maintaining the number 1 position in the imported zero alcohol segment.
Quality is the message
To assure consistently superior quality Bavaria opened its own malting plant in 1939. The company opened another malting plant at Eemshaven (Groningen Province) in 2006 so that Bavaria now has one of the biggest malting plants in Europe. Moreover, Bavaria is the only brewery in the Netherlands to use natural mineral water from its own spring. Thus owning the entire production chain assures Bavaria of a constant high quality product.
Bavaria as challenger
As an independent family business Bavaria is free to set its own course. As a relatively small player among the big international breweries Bavaria makes the difference with surprising combinations. We like to see things differently. That means making choices, being gutsy and keeping things in perspective. In recent years Bavaria successfully gained international attention through its TV commercials featuring such celebrities as Mickey Rourke, Hugh Hefner and Charlie Sheen and through big international events such as Bavaria City Racing Moscow. Plus much international publicity was generated by its quirky marketing actions such as the one during the World Cup in 2010 featuring the DutchDress: a fashionable orange dress for women.
Facts & Figures about Bavaria
• More than 300 years old
• Biggest independent brewery in Europe
• 100% family-owned
• 7th generation of the Swinkels family at the helm
• Annual production: more than 6 million hectolitres of beer
• 65% is exported to over 120 countries
• Net turnover: more than € 500 million
• 1,000 employees worldwide
• Bavaria owns two malt houses with a total annual maximum capacity of 245,000 tonnes of malt
• Bavaria is the only brewer in the Netherlands that uses natural mineral water from it’s own spring